System and method for using hot plug configuration for PCI error recovery

1. In a computer system having a hot plug interface, a method for recovering from a bus error comprising:

detecting a bus error on an input/output I/O bus of the computer system;

automatically generating an operating system transparent interrupt, responsive to the bus error;

wherein the operating system transparent interrupt is a system management interrupt (SMI) that invokes an SMI handler and is generated in peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus hardware and transmitted to a processor of the computer system;

responsive to the operating system transparent interrupt:

saving a present operating state of the processor:

initiating one or more registers to support a system management mode (SMM);

commencing execution with SMM; and

invoking an interrupt handler that scans devices on the bus to identify the device associated with the error;

wherein the SMI handler generates a system control interrupt (SCI);

identifying a device associated with the bus error by scanning peripheral devices and searching one or more error condition registers;

determining whether the SCI specifies an error on a hot pluggable bus;

recording the error in an error log;

asserting a user-indicator to indentify which device caused the bus error; and

responsive to the system control interrupt specifying an error on a hot pluggable bus, invoking a hot plug configuration manager to remove the device in accordance with a hot plug configuration process;

wherein the hot plug configuration manager comprises an advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI);

dynamically removing the identified device from system operations utilizing the hot plug configuration manager to perform the removal; and

restoring saved processor state information and resuming operation system operations.

2. In a computer system having a hot plug interface, a system for recovering from a bus error comprising:

a bus device that generates an operating system transparent interrupt responsive to the bus error;

an interrupt handler, responsive to the operating system transparent interrupt, for identifying a device associated with the bus error; and

a hot plug configuration manager that removes the identified device from system operations;

wherein the hot plug configuration manager comprises an advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI)

wherein said hot plug configuration manager removes the device in accordance with a hot plug configuration process;

wherein the operating system transparent interrupt is a system management interrupt (SMI) that invokes an SMI handler and is generated in peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus hardware and transmitted to a processor of the computer system;

a processor, which, responsive to the operating system transparent interrupt performs the functions of:

saving a present operating state of the processor;

initiating one or more registers to support a system management mode (SMM); and

commencing execution with SSM;

wherein the SMI handler generates a system control interrupt (SCI), said SCI invoking the hot plug configuration manager; and

a bus error handler for;

determining whether the SCI specifies an error on a hot pluggable bus; and

responsive to the system control interrupt specifying an error on a hot pluggable bus, invoking the hot plug configuration manager to perform the removal.